Jury Speak: Naveen Soni’s Advice On Crafting Experiential Campaigns
In this ongoing series, jury member Naveen Soni, Former President, Lexus India, speaks to Everything Experiential as he chalks out his expectations from this year's nominees for the 6th BW Applause Experiential Marketing Awards, the pivotal function of experiential initiatives in marketing strategies for brands among much more.
Excerpts:
As a Juror, what do you expect from the nominees for this year's awards?
Considering the uniqueness of such programs or initiatives I would be looking for the extra mile the brand is willing to travel to delight its consumers and thus increase the brand awareness and affinity. All of this without overstepping the line of consumer privacy would be the key to any successful brand experiential engagement program.
What according to you makes experiential marketing a pivotal function in a brand’s marketing strategy?
Experiential marketing elevates the level of involvement of the consumer to a more personalised level and thus answers the basic questions that the consumer may have like what is in it for me, how can I benefit from this brand, what more can this brand offer and more. Thus, experiential marketing plays a vital role in any marketing professional armoury.
How does your brand employ experiential marketing to enhance consumer engagement and loyalty?
By providing choices to the consumers of their liking there would be a natural affinity of the consumer to involve and immerse in such curated programs and thus deepen the relationship between the consumer and the brand and lead to higher loyalty. This would ultimately lead to the expansion of business via referrals/word of mouth.
Until recently, you were the President at Lexus India, what were the key objectives of the brand’s experiential marketing initiatives at the time?
‘Lexus Life’ is a consumer engagement program where consumers were delighted via engagement with the consumers' passion points such as fashion, food, travel, entertainment and more, thus deepening the relationship between the consumer and the brand. This is also a cost-effective way to generate referrals.
According to you, what are the best practices brands should keep in mind when designing experiential marketing campaigns?
Please be mindful that each consumer is unique and deserves the same respect and attention when managing such events. Thus, a deeper understanding of who is my consumer, what are his or her passion points and what triggers a heightened response becomes a crucial starting point. Also, never make any repeated mistakes and be humble are other useful tips when arranging such experiential marketing campaigns.
